Duane Diefenbach

Duane Diefenbach

Fewer female white-tailed deer disperse than males, but when they do, they typically travel more than twice as far, taking much more convoluted paths and covering larger areas, according to researchers in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences.

Thanks to geospatial technologies like GPS, one Penn State research study may soon have a better understanding of how to balance woodland creatures’ effect on forest vegetation.

The Deer-Forest Study, led by professors Duane Diefenbach and Marc McDill, is a collaborative project among Penn State, the Pennsylvania Game Commission, the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Bureau of Forestry and the Pennsylvania Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit.

Coyotes are a major predator of white-tailed deer across the East, especially fawns born each spring, but wildlife managers nonetheless are able to stabilize and even grow deer herds, according to researchers in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences.

Food-safety specialists with Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences annually issue warnings to deer hunters to keep food safety in mind if they are fortunate enough to get a buck or a doe, and this fall is no exception. However, this year because of the discovery of chronic wasting disease in wild Pennsylvania deer, they are cautioning hunters to be sure their animal appears healthy.

What level of fall wild turkey harvest by hunters causes population declines? That's what researchers in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences are learning midway through a five-year study of the birds.

It's a question that has captured the imagination of Keystone State deer hunters and wildlife lovers: Has increased predation on helpless deer fawns by an growing population of Eastern coyotes resulted in dwindling whitetail numbers across Pennsylvania's rugged northern reaches? The answer is no, according to a deer researcher in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences.

When do young male deer break away from their mothers? How far do they wander? To answer those questions, Penn State wildlife biologists have begun "the largest study of deer dispersal ever undertaken," according to Ph.D. candidate Eric Long. He is supervised on the project by wildlife ecology professor Duane Diefenbach.

Deer are the main reason a million Pennsylvanians buy hunting licenses each year, hunters whose trips to deer camps and purchases of supplies and equipment generate major economic benefits in many rural areas.